The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-05-05
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN
DAY SERMON
Subject; "Bchind the Counter" f"

|
TEXT "And certain ,coman named
Lydia, seller Of purple, of the city of Thy
atira, ,chieh uorshipped God, heard us, ,,uhose
heart the Lord opened. Acts xvi IA "Seest
thou a man diligent in his businessf He
shall stand before kings. Proverbs xii, 80
The first passage introduces to you Lydia,
Christian merchantess Her business is to
deal in purple cloths or silks. She is not a
gigghng. s.nonentity, bat q practical woman.
not ashamed to work for her living. All the
other women Of Philppi and Thyatira have
been forgotten; but God has made immortal
in our text, Lydia, the Christian saleswo-
| man.
The other text shows you a man with head,
and hand, and heart, and foot all busy toiling
on up until he gains a princely success.
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business! he
shall stand before kings" Great encourage
ment in these two passages for men and
women who will be busy, but no solace for
thoss who are waiting for good luck to show
them, at the foot of the rainbow, casket of
buried gold. 1t is folly for anybody in this
world to wait Tor something to turn up. 1t
will turn downs.sThe law of thrift is as mex
orable as the law of the tides Fortune, the ma
gician, may wave her wand in that direction
until castles and palaces come; but she will, af
ter a while, invert the samo wand, and all the
spendors will vanish into thin air. There arc
certain styles OF behavior which lead to use
fnlness, honor and permanent success, and
there are certain styles Of behavior which
lead to dust, dishonor and moral default. /
would like to fire the ambition Of young peo-
Pile. have no sympathy with those who
would prepare young folks for life by whit
Ting down their expectations. That man or
woman will be worth nothing to Church or
State who begins life cowed down. The bust
ness of Christianity is not to quench but to
direct human ambition. Therefore it is that
come out this morning and utter words Of
encouragement to those who are occupied as
clerks in the stores and shops and banking
houses of the country. You say: "Why
select one class, and talk to one specially this
morningN For the same reason that
a surgeon does not open the door of ahospital
and throw in bushel of prescriptions, saying:
Come, now, and get your medicine" He
first feels the pulse watches the symptoms
and then prescribes for that particular case
80 to-day must be specific. The people in
this audience who are clerks are not an
exceptional class. They belong to q great
company of tens of thousands who are, in this
country, amid circumstances which will
either make or break them for time and for
eternity. | should be very slow to acknow--
ledge that the clerks, male and female, OF
other cities, are any moro honest or faithful
than the clerks of our own city. Many of
these people have already achieved a Chris
tian manliness and Christian womanliness
which will be their passport to any position.
have seen their trials have, watched
their perpexities. There are evils abroad
which need to be hunted down, and dragged
out into the monday light
In the first place, counsel clerks to re-
member that for the most part their clerk
ship is only school from which they are to
e be graduated 1t takes about eight years to
get one of the learned professions. 1t takes
about eight years to get to be merchant.
/ Some Of you viii be clerks all your lives,
but the vast majority of you are only in
transient position. After while, some
, December day, the head men Of the firm will
call you into the back Office, and they will say
! to YOU Now you have done well by us;
> we are going to do well by you. We invite
: you to have an interest in our concern" You
4 will bow to that edict very gracefally. Get
+ ting into street car going home,
an old comrade will meet you and
0 say: "What makes you look so happy to-
night y co. you will say, nothing, moth.
ing" But in few days your name will
9 blossom on the sign. Either in the store or
bank where you are now, or in some other
store or bank, you will take higher position
than that which you now occupy. So feel
: to-day that am standing before people who
will yet have their hand on the helm of the
way or that; now CLERKS, but to be bankers, i'm
porters, insurance company directors, ship
pers, contractors, superintendents Of railroads
your voice mighty ION 'Change"-standing
foremost in the great financial and re-
0 liCious enterprises Of the day. For
:, though we who are in the professions may,
: on the platform, plead for the phianthropies.
. after all, the merchants must come forth
with their millions to sustain the movement.
/. Be, therefore, patient and diligent in this
4 transient position. You are now where you
:. can learn things You can never learn in any
+ other place. What you consider your disad'
a vantages are your grand opportunity: You
| Np affiyepf fatbor da come down on
y a prominent street with his son, who has just
+, graduated from the University and
i established him in business, putting
e one hundred thousand dollars Of capital
:, in the store. Well, You are envious. You
say: "Oh, if only had chance like that
Il young man-if only had father to put one
hundred thousand dollars in business for me
then l would have some chance in the world.
Be not cnvious. You have advantages ovel
that young man which he has not over you
As well might / come down to the dock
when vessel is about to sail for Valparaiso
Z and say: "Let me pilot this ship out OF thu
= Narrows.n Why, would sink crew and cargo
IS before got out of the harbor, simply becaus'
know nothing about piotage Wealthy SCI
: captains put their sons before the mas
: for the reason that they know that it IS thu
"a only place where they can learn to he success
. full sailors. 1t is only under drill that peopl
- get to understood pilotage and navigation
and want you to understand that it take
: no more skill to conduct a vessel out of tn
is harbor and across the sea, than to steer
:. commercial establishment clear of the rocks
~ You see every day the folly Of people goin
r. into business they know nothin
\ about. man makes q fortune in on
- business; thinks there is another occupation
to more comfortable; goes into it and sinks all
J.. Many of the commercial establishments @
~ our cities are giving to their clerks mercar
tile education as thorough as Yale, OF Hal
>. ward, or Princeton, are giving scientific a
s' tainment to the students matriculated. tn
W reason so many men are laundering j
); business from year to year, is because thel
a early mercantile education was neglected
ID Ask these men high in commercial circle.
and they will tell You they thank God fo
70 this severe discipline of their early clerl
ship. You can afford to endure the wilderne.
march ifit is going to end in the vineyards an
c orchards of the promised land But you say
I'd "Will the womanly clerks in our stores nav
. promotionfn Yes Time is coming whe
70 women will be as well paid for their toll l
a. mercantile circles as men are now paio ie
their toll Time is coming when woma
to will be allowed to do anything she can
he well 1t is only little while ago when wome
knew nothing of teegraphy, and they WEI
en- kept out of great many commercial clrcl'
on where they are now welcome; ana the tln
will go on until the woman who at one coul
he ter in a store sells ten thousand dollars wort
of goods in year, will get as high a salar
as the man who mt the other count
of the same store sells ten thousand dc
lars worth of goods. All honor
a lydia. the Christian saleswoman. And
passing, may as well say that you merchan
lss who have female clerks in your stores ougl
to treat them With great courtesy and kin'
ness When tag are not positively engage
d. let them sit down. In England and Il
se United States physicians have proteste
,ainst the habit of compelling the woman
clerks in the stores to stand when it was nj
necessary for them to stand. Therefore, i az
to the protest of physicians the protest OF Il
er Christian Church, and in the name OF goo
a. health, and that God who has made the W,
manly constitution more delicate than man
Re. / demand that you let her sit down.
The second counsel / have to give to u
clerks who are here to-day, is that you SCI
out what are the lawful regulations of yo'
-, establishment, and then submit to ther
r. Every well ordered house has its usages.
III military life, on ships deck, in commerci
life, there must lie order and disciplln
Mt Those people who do not learn how to OBJ
will never know how to command ] will L
you what young man will reach ruin. tina
he sat orl fc h., IA